Classification society: an NGO which provides safety standards for construction
and maintenance (vessels’ hulls and engines) and is responsible for
the inspection of vessels to ensure the enforcement of these standards.

Containment: stopping the migration of solid or liquid, polluted substances
out of a particular area using a boom.

Crude oil: a naturally occurring, unrefined, mineral liquid composed principally
of hydrocarbon, which accumulates in reservoirs beneath the Earth’s
surface and is used as a source of energy.

Deadweight: maximum weight (cargo + fuel + passengers) that a vessel is authorised to transport
according to the ship’s papers, expressed in tons.

Deballasting: operation which involves emptying a ballast tank of its contents.
Deballasting station: facilities where oil tankers can berth and unload
their washing waters from their tanks. These waters are then treated in
the deballasting station by settling.

Degassing: ventilation of tanks to eliminate hydrocarbon vapours to allow
access for inspection or repair work.

Dispersant: liquid used to place oil in suspension in the water mass and
promote its dispersal, in order to accelerate break down by the natural
environment, at sea or in fresh water.

Dissolution: process of a solid (or gas) forming a solution in a liquid
(e.g. sugar dissolving in water).

Double hull: watertight compartment surrounding the shell or part of the
vessel to protect it in the event of a leak in the hull.

Ecotoxicology: science which studies the ecological consequences of pollution
and chemical and radioactive contamination.

EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone, intermediate maritime area between the territorial
sea and the high sea, where the coastal State possesses sovereign rights
in terms of exploration and exploitation of the sea’s and seafloor’s
resources.

Effluent: waste waters or liquid waste discharged into the water during
clean-up operations in pollution response.

Emulsification: dispersion of a liquid into very fine particles in another
liquid, forming an extremely heterogeneous liquid.

Emulsion: mixture of two non miscible substances (i.e. which do not normally
mix), such as water and oil.

Emulsion breaker: liquid used to break down emulsions in the form of pastes
made of oil in water, which are recovered onshore or at sea.

Epithelium: tissue made up of juxtaposed cells arranged in one or several
layers lining the inner surface of organs.

Equipment: action of equipping a vessel and supplying it with all the resources
needed for navigation.

Film-forming agent: substance which can form a thin layer (a film), used
to reduce the adhesion of oil on hard surfaces such as rocks, riprap and
concrete walls, to facilitate cleaning. It is applied before the pollutant
arrives.

Final clean-up: this is the second stage of clean-up. It involves allowing
sites to recover their former uses and return to normal ecological functioning.

Flag: nationality of a ship.
Flag of convenience: registration of a ship in a country which grants its
flag without assuming its responsibilities in terms of safety checks.

Flooding: saturation of a beach with water.
Flushing: clean-up technique involving the remobilisation of fresh pollution
using low pressure hoses in order to channel it to a collection point.
Foreshore: the part of the shore between the high and low water levels (=
intertidal zone).

Fuel oil: residue from the distillation of oil, formed from a mixture of
solid and liquid carbides. In appearance it is a thick, brown liquid used
as combustion fuel.

Gross tonnage: the volume of all the compartments located below deck onboard
a vessel. It is expressed in register tons, equivalent of 100 cubic feet
or 2.83 cubic metres, (old system) or in units (new convention).

Grounding: when a vessel accidentally hits the ground, causing it to need
to be refloated.

Initial clean-up: the first stage of clean-up operations. The aim is to remove
large accumulations of pollutant and heavily polluted materials as quickly
as possible in order to limit expansion of the pollution and ecological
impact.

Intertidal zone: part of the shore between the furthest limits reached by
the tides (= foreshore).

Oil cut: mixture of hydrocarbons defined by the interval of their boiling points
or by the number of atoms of carbon in their compositions (e.g. heavy petrol:
100-180°C, C7-C10).

Oil fraction: See "oil cut"
Oil spill: sudden, localised release of petroleum into the environment.
In the case of major spillages, the quantities greatly exceed what the local
environment is able to assimilate without resulting in damages.

Oil tanker: vessel designed to transport liquid hydrocarbons (crude oil
or refined products) in bulk in its tanks.

Oil well: perforation through the Earth’s surface designed to extract
oil.

Oleophilic: property of presenting an affinity for oils, absorbing them
selectively.

Operational discharge: release at sea of waste waters containing a certain
quantity of hydrocarbons. Release linked to the routine activity of a vessel.

Outcrop: an area of rock emerging at the ground surface.

Oxidation: chemical reaction in which a compound combines with one or more
atoms of oxygen, with the loss of one or more electrons.

PAH: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon = hydrocarbon formed by the fusion
of a variable number of benzene rings (C6H6); the most simple PAH is naphthalene
(C10H8).

Patty: a deposit of pollution roughly between 10 cm and 1 m in diameter.
In the classification of pollution, it is considered smaller than a patch
but larger than a tar ball.

Percolation: circulation of water through the sand, due to gravity.
Petrochemistry: industrial chemistry of petroleum derivatives.

Petrol: a petroleum-derived, volatile mixture of flammable liquid hydrocarbons
used as fuel in internal combustion engines (e.g. cars). Also known as gasoline.

Petroleum: See "crude oil"
Photo-oxidation: phenomenon of oxidation of a pollutant facilitated or provoked
by sunlight.
Pipeline: a large pipe or tube used to transport certain liquids over a
long distance, especially liquid fuels such as hydrocarbons, natural gas
etc.
Place of refuge: area, usually a port, where a vessel in difficulty can
be taken to stabilise the situation, to minimise the impact on the environment.
Polludrome: a unique tool belonging to Cedre, in the form of a flume tank
used to simulate the weathering of oil at sea.

Pollution reponse: all efforts made to minimise the impact of a pollution
incident.

Port of refuge: see "place of refuge".
Pozzolana: volcanic earth, brown to grey in colour.

Refinery: 1) operation or series of operations through which a (homogenous
or heterogeneous) mixture of substances is separated into one or more pure
bodies or one or more mixtures with well defined properties. 2) Industrial
plant where this process is carried out.

Remote sensing: science and technique of detection at a distance (satellite,
aircraft).

Sand screener: machine which picks up a layer of sand 5 to 20 cm thick
and passes it along a vibrating wire conveyor belt, acting as a screen,
to recover the solid waste (tar balls).
Sedimentation: natural settling of particles with a higher density than
water, caused by gravity.

Separator: device which separates the different components in a mixture,
in this case they separate oil from water.
Settling: deliberate separation of matters in suspension by leaving them
to fall to the bottom of a recipient.
Sheen: production of the colours of the rainbow by the fractioning of light
caused by thin films of silvery hydrocarbons a few microns thick.

Shipowner: the person in control of a vessel, who is responsible for its
operation, maintenance and running.

Shipping lane: channel or route that ships must follow near certain coasts.

Skimming: recovery of hydrocarbons on the water surface.

Slop tank: tank into which residues are pumped and left to settle onboard
oil tankers.

Sludge: fuel residue in the form of an agglomerate of solid and liquid materials
with a tendency to form a deposit.

Solid waste: all types of various forms of waste, either of human or natural
origin, floating at sea or deposited onshore.

Sorbent: all products designed to absorb and/or adsorb liquid spilled in
the environment, in order to facilitate their recovery.
Stockpile: a reserve where materials and equipment are stored for future
use.
Straining: initial phase of purification of polluted water, which involves
eliminating solid waste and large particles.

Substrate: nature of surface sediments.

Surfwashing: beach clean-up technique which involves moving sediments down
the beach to the area where the waves are breaking in order to expose them
to wave energy.

Tainting: alteration of taste and smell of sea produce to acquire an oil-like
taste when an oil spill occurs.

Tank: compartment onboard a vessel used to store cargo or ballast waters.

Tar: coal-coloured derivative of oil. By-product of the distillation of
coal in the fabrication of petroleum coke. It is highly viscous or can even
be solid.
Tar ball: small ball of weathered oil
Terminal: industrial facility where oil tankers load and offload their cargo.

Tour d’Horizon: a yearly reconnaissance flight carried out within
the framework of the Bonn Agreement, mainly along offshore installations,
covering at least 600 nautical miles, roughly between 52 north and 63 north.

Traffic separation scheme: see "shipping lane".
Tug: a strong, powerful boat used for towing other vessels.